Cultural Strategy - Residents' and visitors’ survey

In 2022, Lewisham was the London Borough of Culture. Over 240,000 people attended more than 400 events from Deptford to Downham. More than 1,800 people volunteered to make it happen and over 7,000 young people benefited from our Creative Futures programme, which supported 16–30+ year olds with career advice, training and mentoring. Lewisham’s vibrant creative and community organisations made the programme happen with more than 200 partner organisations contributing to the year. 88% of schools in the borough participated in creative challenges and more.

We are now developing a Cultural Strategy for Lewisham to build on the success of the year and create a legacy for future generations. We delivered the London Borough of Culture year in partnership and we are taking the same approach to the Cultural Strategy.

London Borough of Culture was one of the biggest projects we have ever undertaken to understand how people participate in culture and how cultural activities impact their lives. We sought feedback during the year and we developed new ways of working. We will be using what people have told us to inform the strategy. We are now launching this consultation so we can hear from more people and add to what we learned during our year as London Borough of Culture.

Research has shown that being creative or participating in cultural activities has positive benefits for people's health and wellbeing. People can develop new skills and build relationships with others when they engage in cultural activities. Creative and cultural industries are one of the fastest growing sectors of the national economy and they play an important role in the local economy.

We want everyone in Lewisham to benefit from the positive impacts of culture. By sharing your views with us you can help us develop the best Cultural Strategy for Lewisham. We will be developing the strategy over the coming months. Later in the summer we will provide an update on how your contributions have helped us.

We will be using your feedback to inform the Cultural Strategy. We expect the strategy to be agreed in July 2023. Later in the summer, we will update this page to explain how your feedback has been used in developing the strategy.